


Missed Connections

by Moonlit_Petals



Series: Between the Dusty and the Sparks [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Advanced Technology, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Angst, Classism, Competing Worlds, Dystopian, F/M, Futuristic, POV Third Person, Revolutionaries, Romance, Steampunk, traitors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:41:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23273401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlit_Petals/pseuds/Moonlit_Petals
Summary: They're from different societies, made to hate each other. But when they don't know where the other is from and they don't know if they've ever met... what's to stop them from falling in love? The illegal tech that they're using to communicate? No, that just made it easier.Rated M because of one slightly suggestive scene.
Relationships: Kwon Soonyong | Hoshi/Original Female Character(s), Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Original Character(s)
Series: Between the Dusty and the Sparks [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673557
Kudos: 4





	Missed Connections

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! If you're wondering why this sounds familiar, it's because I posted a 2nd POV version to Tumblr (deathbyseventeen) around a year ago. Thought I'd post a 3rd Person POV here since 2nd POV is weird sometimes...(and because I'm working on a second installment of the world).
> 
> My bad for all the errors I didn't catch.

Her blinds were drawn shut although the sun had gone down hours before she had even gotten home. Inside her own home, all the doors were closed and locked, the same vied true for the windows. There were no lights on either. The house was pitch black.

To find her, the owner/resident of the house, one would have to travel deep into her house—underground, into a second basement that had been built underneath the original. There and only there would anyone be able to witness her commit a crime so utterly heinous that if anyone were to find out, she’d be ostracized by society and driven into the lands of Dust where the ‘dusty’ lived.

She was part of the Sparks, a socially acceptable citizen, living a comfortable life in a house without dust, on a street without a speck of dirt. To be thrown into the lands of Dust, to live with the Dusty in their tan trousers and dark vests and sweaters, to use their bare technology with all their gears and oil visible….

And yet deep in her cave, a flickering blue light shone from a thin, unpainted piece of wire and glass that made up a monocle. A long brown chain link connected it to her, wrapping itself around her ear; two small sound receivers were in her ears, producing small sounds of static before going silent.

It was an old piece of technology that connected to the social nets. It was called the Monet. It belonged to the Dusty.

She smiled and reached out tentatively, excitement bubbling in her stomach. “Initiate connection.”

“Connection Established,” the Monet responded, words appearing on the hologram it was projecting on the wall she was facing.

She extended a hand and grinned when it responded to her. A grayish-white box popped out towards her like a three-dimensional object begging to be touched. It was the entrance to the net.

Her finger hovered over the hologram in a second of hesitation before she made a motion as if she was tapping it. It expanded into a list of suggestions— sites that the Dusty visited.

Connections (a dating site), the Cyc (for information searching), and a gaming module with a plethora of sites. Although the Dusty were known to only use old mechanics, it was all they could afford, the Monet was significantly older. She doubted anyone still used it.

Gaming, she decided, that would be the first place she explored. She flicked her finger upwards, still hovering over the list, and scrolled through all the titles until she came upon one that piqued her curiosity. **< <Missed Connections>>**

She tapped on the title. The image changed into one of a loading screen, a small avatar dancing at the bottom of the hologram. Then the image flashed, and she was staring at a set-up screen.

_> > Create a Connections account to experience the game fully._

_< <Create the Connection>> <<Maybe Later>>_

She stared at the options for a moment, only blinking every few seconds like a fish out of water that was nearing its end. She couldn’t make a Connections account, that would mean having to say who she was, what district of Sparks she was from. She couldn’t do that! That would mean lying and she was a socially acceptable citizen!

Wait.

She smiled embarrassedly though no one was there to see her. One of her fingers made its way upward toward her left eye where the Monet rested and toyed with it.

She had already broken about five different laws…

What was one more?

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

**_1 Year Later_ **

Luz was a graduating student of the most exclusive school Sparks had to offer. Under her belt, she could brag that she had taken more than half of her required courses as an electrical engineering student under honors. Even more, unlike most of her fellow classmates, she had an internship waiting for her to graduate.

There was only a month left before graduation and it seemed that they couldn’t wait any longer; She was to report to a zone in the Dust that was being rezoned and reconstructed to be part of the Sparks. It was a great ego boost, to say the least.

Unfortunately, she was completely and utterly lost. Even the map they had sent her seemed to be missing a few twists and turns.

To make matters worse, there were no fellow Sparks to be found anywhere. As far as her eyes could see there was only red-brown dirt, dust and

“Are those tumbleweeds?” Luz exclaimed, eyes widening. “I thought those were extinct.”

“They were,” a smooth voice piped up behind her, causing her to jump and whip around, almost tripping over her own feet. A man, most likely only a couple of months or years older than her, stared at her. He was clad in Dusty construction worker regulated clothes: a dark tan jumper, gray shirt, old leather shoes, and a yellow hard hat. It seemed safety was mostly irrelevant to the Dusty.

“Until your kind of people decided they wanted to be “funny” and reengineered them. Something about their visual irony,” he gave her a tight, forced smile.

Luz stared at him, eyes wide and blinking rapidly. Her fingers twitched as she brought her files and binders up to her chest to hug them tightly. He seemed to be done talking as he gave her a once over, rolled his eyes, and turned on his heels.

She gaped at him. Words seemed to fail her, she couldn’t think therefore none left the space that was in her mouth. ‘That man probably stole them,’ she thought to herself.

A sudden spark of anger ran down her body. She glared at him. Her mouth clamped shut and her lips formed a tight line.

“Who the hell do you think you are to talk to me like that?!” It was a rhetorical question. She didn’t really care. But there was hell to pay.

Nonetheless, it was the same to the man who chose to ignore her. He didn’t spare a single glance at her, choosing to stare straight ahead, head held up high confidently.

That only made her angrier.

When she had reached the edge of Spark territory and the concrete ground began turning to dirt and dust, she had taken extra care to watch her step. They were slower and calculated as she didn’t want her pristine, leather white boots to be coated and stained in a rusty red because she was carelessly kicking up dirt. The same could be said about the rest of her outfit but as she was crossing the city limits, the patrolling officers had handed her, and everyone else in line, a long transparent plastic overcoat.

Now? Now Luz felt like kindling was being fed to the fire in her stomach, making it grow big enough to reach her now red cheeks and shoes.

Underneath her feet clumps of dirt crunched. They alerted the man that she was still following him. So, he stopped, and without turning around he answered her.

“You know, around here _Sparks_ like you don’t live to see another day.”

The disdain was clear in his voice. Luz froze. The way his voice seemed to be holding back from a growl spooked her. His words, sounding much like a threat to her, frightened her.

Content with her lack of a response, he smiled to himself and resumed his walking. In no time he was disappearing behind the body of a dune, leaving her to herself.

When she came to, the sun’s shining had scorched her entire body and heated her plastic coat. A single touch reminded Luz of where she was and where she was supposed to be. Blinking, she tried to activate the communicator that was embedded in her eye.

A funny sound, a _plung_ , alerted her that there was no signal. Gulping, Luz decided to check the time instead. 08:59.

“Hey! Hey, wait!” Luz screamed running and climbing, struggling, up the dunes to catch up to the man. She was about to be late.

“Hey! Please! I need—,” Luz paused, swallowing her pride, “your help.” A sharp clang shocked her enough for her to drop onto her knees. Slowly—cautiously, Luz lifted her gaze and found herself staring at a hoard of Dusty construction workers. Dumbfounded as she was, no words made their way up her throat and out of her mouth.

A man approached her, dressed in pristine white clothes she worried he was one of her bosses. “Choi Seungcheol. Are you the e-technician we’ve been waiting for?”

Luz jumped to her feet, plastered a smile onto her face, and dusted off her clothes hurriedly. “Yes, sir.”

“You’re late,” he responded.

His face, devoid of emotion and unblinking, made her uncomfortable. Struggling not to fidget under his stare, Luz nodded. “I- I know, sir. I apologize. I d-didn’t really know where I was going.”

Seungcheol did not reply, keeping her and the rest of the construction site in utter silence. A single exhale through his nose came after what seemed like an eternity but was really only five seconds at the most.

“Next time make sure to know where you’re going. Now follow me.” While he turned around to look at the site, Luz let her shoulders slump.

“Back to work!” He screamed, and she jumped, tensing all over again.

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

“You’ll be meeting most of the technicians during lunch, but there are a couple of people that I’ll have to introduce to you personally later. For now,” Seungcheol said to her as he led her down a concrete path that had already been built, “you’ll need to look at the building plans and designs on your own and figure out where the e-tech will be embedded.”

Luz nodded frantically. In the moments that he talked, she took seconds to look around, trying to memorize the layout of the site. A couple of feet away and nearing, she could see a small, strikingly white building sitting on a floor of concrete.

“That is the technicians' office, built in advance. Dr. Hong will be your mentor—” he stopped where the path connected to the block of concrete the building sat on, “he’s probably already inside,” and motioned for her to continue on her own.

It was on the first step Luz took onto the concrete the office sat on that she realized her white, leather boots were stained in red. That damn dirt.

The edge of the sidewalk had never been so inviting. She hit the edges of her shoes against them frantically as her teeth chewed on her bottom lip. It was painful to watch minuscule amounts of dust and dirt fall off her once white shoes.

“Mmhmm.” Luz froze as she heard a throat clear behind her.

She licked her lips. She needed _options_. Fight - turn around and face whoever had just caught her trying to salvage her defaced boots. Or flight - run _anywhere_ else to hide from whoever was standing behind her.

 _Great_.

Straightening up and slowly turning to face her audience, she forced her tense smile to turn into a timid one. “Hello,” Luz said to a tall, tan man in a white suit much like the ones the residents of Sparks wore. Small vein-like decorations running up the middle of his coat were the only indication that he wasn’t like any other citizen of Spark. They were the mark of the e-technicians.

It was a mark of pride. A mark of reached accomplishment.

The man’s round eyes, finally traveling farther than her stained boots, studied from head to toe. After a couple of seconds, he finally stopped, and let his gaze rest on the cuffs of her own coat. Even under the dusty, plastic overcoat, her own decorations were visible. One individual vein, much like his own, the only difference being hers were only at the cuffs, and he had more than one line, blossomed from the tips of her coat and stopped at her elbow.

A single brow rose on the man’s oval face in question. He leaned forward, as to look her in the eyes, and stared at her.

Luz gulped. He was handsome, yes, but he was staring at her without uttering a single word. His brown eyes seemed to grow more intense with every second that ticked by (though that feeling could have also been her growing uncomfortableness).

Then he smiled. “Are you the new tech?”

For a second, she was glad that his eyes were closed. His turn in character was enough to make one of her eyes twitch.

She let out a small breath, “Yes, sir.”

He hummed, eyes sparkling in the sun. “I’m Doctor Joshua Hong. I'm assuming the project leader Choi Seungcheol has told you…” he trailed off.

“That you’ll be my mentor,” Luz finished off, eyes widening when she realized who he was.

“Good,” He nodded and turned around. “Follow me.”

Scurrying behind him, she realized the block the building sat on was virtually empty. Judging by the absence of sound, Luz was beginning to assume that there was also a protective barrier around it.

Doctor Hong came to a sudden stop, causing her to stumble into his back. To her surprise, even the force of her crashing into him didn’t cause him to stumble. It seemed like he was perfect. Like nothing could cause him to lose his composure.

He was a Spark.

“Leave your shoes and protective coat in the box next to the door.” His light and airy voice sent a shiver down her spine.

Without waiting for her to respond, he entered the building and disappeared behind the closing door.

Luz was still, staring at his retreating form. When his words and actions finally registered, she kicked off her shoes and took off the plastic protector. Then, after enveloping the shoes in the coat, she put them in the box and scurried inside to an airy lobby, where a pair of white slippers waited for her.

Inside there was cool air and soft white lighting, it almost made her feel like she hadn’t left Sparks. If it weren’t for the windows she may have been able to fool herself into believing she was still there. But she wasn’t, she was in the Dusty. The rusty red hills outside made sure to let her know where she was.

It felt wrong.

“Quite a view isn’t it?” Doctor Hong spoke up behind her. “Barren, dead. The Dusty should be thankful we’re taking this land and making it useful.”

She hesitated to nod.

“They’ll be constructing the buildings one by one. We’ll each be distributed to one of them. For now though—” he waved a hand for her to follow him down the hallway, “we have the models of their design.”

They entered a small white room at the end of the hallway, empty save for a white chair and the Panet on the wall.

Doctor Hong smiled, “This’ll be your office. Have fun arranging the designation of the technology for your building.”

Luz was left alone in the room soon after, her mentor Dr. Hong giving her a single nod before leaving and closing the door behind him. Letting out the breath she had been holding, she let herself slump into the chair.

The chair, one just like the rest of the office chairs in Sparks, had wheels attached to the legs. Things like this, wheeled chairs or gravitating tables (Sparks had to go retro sometimes too) made life in the Sparks all the more special.

Luz pushed herself with her feet toward the Panet on the wall. She placed her left hand on the silver panel screen and grinned when a soft hum filled the room. A soft blue light fell from the roof and filled the room instantly, covering the floor and walls alike.

“I don’t feel like moving,” Luz sighed and lazily reached toward the images hovering over the wall. It took a total of four taps to get the model of the building she was responsible for projected into the middle of the room. “Let’s get to it, then.” She said, then immersed herself in her work for the next five hours.

The sound of loud knocking interrupted her robot-like concentration. Sliding over to the Panet, she slapped her hand over it and rushed to the door. The image disappeared as she opened the door and both of her bosses, Mr. Choi and Dr. Hong greeted her with fixed smiles.

“It’s break time,” Dr. Hong said.

“We’ll take you to the ‘canteen’ as the Dusty have dubbed it,” Mr. Choi finished off as if routine, eyes, and head tilt matching that of her mentor.

Luz smiled hesitantly, starting to realize the smiles she was giving were probably going to be a constant in this work environment. She couldn’t help it though, apart or together, both Mr. Choi and Doctor Hong had a look in their eyes that seemed as sharp as a knife.

With their dark brown eyes and pitch-black hair even their softer and more delicate features couldn’t stop them from giving off an intimidating sensation. The tall and stiff way they walked didn’t work either.

“Alright,” Luz nodded and followed them.

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

It was weird.

It was weird to see the composed white of the Sparks contrasted against the rustic browns, reds, golds, and blacks of the Dusty. To see them using items that only the Sparks were capable of having…

“Do not mind them,” Mr. Choi said in a steady voice, waving over a man and a woman in suits like Dr. Hong’s. “They keep to their own. Considering this is the only time they are allowed to eat the food typical to us and abide in an area meant only for us, they are quite the curious beings.”

“Why are they allowed to be here?” Luz whispered. How she hoped no one could hear her.

“Pity, I assume,” Dr. Hong chimed in.

“No bother,” Mr. Choi began as he imputed his order on the meal panels, “let them have their curiosity. They aren’t going to be allowed here forever.”

The man and woman that he had waved over, reached them after that comment. They gave him a small nod in greeting. “Ah, Mr. Jeon, Miss Lim. I’d like for you to meet the newest member of our team.” The man and woman, both of equal stature, both wearing the white outfits of a Spark, blinked and turned to look at her to give her a thin smile.

“Miss Alcantar this is Lim Nayoung, second in command at the construction site after me,” he pointed at the woman.

“You may call me Miss Lim,” she said, extending a hand to shake in courtesy.

Luz reciprocated, noting the hammer design imprint on top of her left shoe, the mark of the construction designers. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“This—” Miss Lim motioned to the man whose sharp eyes and raven black hair added a certain aura of intimidation and disinterest around him, “is Jeon Wonwoo. He’s another technician.”

“His building’s already been constructed so we won’t be seeing him around the office as often for now,” Dr. Hong said.

In the blink of an eye, they all had their lunches, all but Luz. They stared at her passively, although if someone were to look closely at their eyes they would see a hint of amusement. Luz, however, was not paying close attention to their facial expressions. For the most part, she tried to avoid looking directly at them unless she felt she had to. Embarrassed as she was, she was having a hard time keeping the blood from rushing to her cheeks.

She rushed to order her food and tapped her foot impatiently until it arrived. When it did, she followed the others to a table and ate silently like the rest of them.

In her tomb-like state, her attention drifted from Dr. Hong’s turtle-like eating speed to the conversations that drifted from around them to them. “ _Look at this meat. It’s— It’s so—_ ”

“Miss Alcantar!” She jumped. Mr. Choi was staring at her, fork and knife at hand.

“Sorry, you were saying something.” She replied, her voice almost nothing but a whisper.

Mr. Choi shot her a strange look. “There's one more person I need to introduce you to. It’s a bit unorthodox, but since you’ll have to set up the tech of an entire building on your own, you'll need someone with you.”

She shook her head, a bit at a loss for words, “I don't understand, sir.”

“This is Hoshi,” her eyebrows furrowed, she hadn't realized there was someone next to him. She turned and standing at the edge of the table was the same man who had disrespected her and left her to die in the empty expanse of the Dusty desert. Ravenous animals could have torn her limb by limb, piece by pie--

“Luz,” Mr. Choi snapped, annoyance in his voice.

“Sorry, sir,” she replied, grimacing.

All because of him.

“As I was saying, this is Hoshi. He's the leader of the construction workers.”

“We had to have a Dusty leader for them. We didn't want any riots because Seungcheol was the only leader. A Sparks leader,” Miss Lim whispered. Her intent may have been to quietly whisper their true intentions to her, but Luz was quite sure that he had heard her.

She nodded rigidly.

“He’ll be accompanying you to your building when it's done. Although, he will have to be around you every now and then before then.”

“As to make sure that your designs fit with the building materials and designs,” Dr. Hong added in after, not missing a beat.

She turned to look at Hoshi, eyebrows beginning to scrunch up in distaste. He was looking at her too, a bored expression overtaking his face. He looked away a second later and she had to fight the urge to send a colorful remark his way.

“Our apologizes you’re stuck with a Dusty, but I’ll be going with Dr. Hong and Mr.Jeon will be with Mr. Choi so we ran out of options,” Miss Lim said, nodding at her food.

Luz nodded, “It can’t be helped.”

“We’ll let you talk with your accompaniment, then. Lunch is over in ten minutes,” Dr. Hong said, after looking at the glowing black numbers displaying the time on the wall, “be back in your office by then. We do not accept tardiness here.”

“Yes, sir,” she said again and watched as the rest of the Spark team stood up to dispose of their trays and left together.

They sat in silence, Hoshi standing at the foot at the table staring at everything and everyone but her, and Luz picking at her food (chicken salad) with her fork. When she felt unable to keep silent, time stretching on to feel like an eternity, she raised her fork to take a bite and chewed languidly, thinking about what she was about to say.

“When will you be able to stop by the offices?”

Luz had refused to look up at him while she talked to him but, when she felt the table jolt, she was forced to look up at him. The palms of his hands were flat against the table, and his upper body bent as he leaned forward. Her eyes widened comically.

Hoshi, with sharp eyes and lips pressed into a thin line, stared at her boredly, his face only inches from hers. But, even from that distance, she could feel him breathing by the air leaving through his nose. In her startled state, she had forgotten how to move and sat frozen. It was almost as if she were in a trance.

“Let’s get one thing straight boss,” he dragged out ‘boss’ as if it were an insult. “You might be part of the show up in those white offices, but I run the show down here.” He hit his palms against the table again, adding a smirk to his face this time around.

It was the same bravado he had used when she had asked him for directions. The sudden recollection of this snapped Luz out of her frozen state.

“I’ve already asked you this once but since it seems like you have no brains inside that thing you might not know is your head. So, I’ll ask again. Who the hell do you think you are to talk to me that way?”

His eyes narrowed into a glare but before he could get a word in she cut in again.

“What? Just because my superiors are gone suddenly you have the right to talk to me like that?”

This time, he was silent, waiting and thinking that she wasn’t done talking yet. As he came to realize that she was done talking, _she_ came into a realization that he was waiting for her to say more.

Taking her shot, she picked up her tray and slammed it against the table, standing up at the same time to give her greater momentum against him. “You are going to go to my office at the end of the day. Got it?” She growled her final words.

None of them had noted that the area around them had gone silent. Hoshi, stunned, was unable to think of words to say to her and could only watch as she threw her food away and left without waiting for him to respond.

Snickers from someone in the vicinity woke him from his trace like a slap of cold water. He whipped around to glare at the person. The seconds ticked by and his face grew red.

With a huff, he turned on his heels and left; his hands were curled into fists.

He never figured out who was laughing at him.

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

Luz sat slumped in her stiff, white office chair; her fingers twitched against the armrest. In front of her, the time was being projected via virtual numbers.

It was the end of the day.

Hoshi had yet to show up.

She swiped a hand across the image to pull up the main menu. A list with different minuscule timekeepers overtook the old image. ‘Clock,’ read the one that her eyes glued themselves too. Her index finger hovered over it, itching to select it and have a giant circle with “hands,” she remembered her school lessons, three dimensional lines that moved with the measurement of time, move in circles until it was time for her to leave.

But even in its minuscule preview, she could see one of the lines, a thin line, moving quicker than the rest around the circle. Before she knew it, her screen blanked and a simple reminder appeared.

“ _The end of the workday has arrived. Save work now and enter sleep mode?_ ”

Luz sighed and nodded to herself. With a single flick of her wrist, she saved her work and ordered the Panet into sleep mode.

A knock on the door came when she was sliding a Panet Protector, the shade of the white wall, over the Panet.

She glanced at the door, waiting for a second knock to beckon her. When it didn’t come, she shrugged a bit and went back to her chair’s resting place to grab the white slippers she had been given to wear inside.

Then she was at the door, sliding on her slippers with one hand and running a hand over the door sensor to open the door with the other.

Then Luz stiffened. She fought to keep a neutral facade, though her eyes were straining themselves in her attempt not to glare.

“You’re late,” she said blandly.

Without a word, he stepped forward to walk into the room. Seeing this, Luz blocked the door with her small frame and walked forward herself. Hoshi faltered and retreated, letting her brush past him and close the door in his face.

He raised an eyebrow in question. In return, she gave him a once over and scoffed. Then, pressing a small button on the wall on her way down the hallways, scurried into the main lobby.

A sudden scream had Luz smirking as she grabbed her red dusted, no-longer-pristine white boots.

Dr. Hong cleared his throat, an inquisitive look on his face.

‘What?’ She gave Dr. Hong, who was standing at the entrance of the raining, self-cleaning hallway, an innocent look as she stepped outside and put on her ruined boots.

He had been tracking dirt in.

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

To say Luz was upset would have been an understatement. To say Luz was angry would be an insult to everyone and everything that joined forces and crossed her path.

Luz was livid.

From her way home from work—where she had forgotten to put on her protective coat and had thereby been attacked by gusts of wind that lifted the copper, red dirt and settled it on her white clothes, to her actually reaching Sparks territory, _home_ , only to be stopped by the Dividend units. She had been asked to _prove_ she was a citizen of the Sparks. It was ridiculous.

Even now she could feel her neighbor's eyes on her, judging her for her shoes which were now coated all around in red dust and dirt, judging her for the protective coat she was wearing— yet another thing dusted in the Dusty’s infamous copper-red dirt.

Fumes were leaving through her ears as she placed a hand over her house’s door bioscanner. When a gentle click alerted her that the lock had been undone, she pushed her door open, stepped inside and slammed it closed.

With her back against the door, she let herself slide down until she was sitting on the floor and a red trail had formed underneath her.

“For f—” she cut herself off.

She wanted to sleep for an eternity, forget work and all that came with it. But instead, Luz pulled herself up and got to work cleaning the rusty dirt off herself and the floor.

It was eight at night when she finally finished. She sighed to herself, tired but relieved that she could finally do what she itched to do every night.

After a quick walk through her entire home, making sure all windows and doors were locked, Luz ran down into her basement, through it and into her second basement where a single chair and a monocle waited for her.

To Luz, it was as if _he_ was waiting for her.

She traversed through the illegal equipment in a hurry. Outwardly it would seem that she was feeling guilt for using it in the first place, but in reality, she was trapezing through the room, rushing to put on and turn on the monocle. To see the flickering blue light of the Monet and the flickering images of her virtual life on the Missed Connections game was all she looked forward to every day.

Then, almost instantly after the loading screen disappeared, she could hear him greet her cheerfully with his smooth voice.

“Welcome home, _Honey_!” A small, breathy laugh, could be heard at the end of his line.

She bit the corner of her lower lip smiling, and a dark blush ran up her cheeks before and while she answered him, “Hello to you too, Mr. Sexy.”

She blushed harder than before. It was what he always insisted that she call him. A way to keep their fake relationship alive, he claimed. But to her, it seemed more like a way to feel loved. It was obvious that she didn’t know if he needed that, but she felt like she did, so she never rejected his flirting.

“How was your day at work?” His little avatar seemed to be serving food as he talked, so she commanded hers to sit at the small wooden table center kitchen.

“Horrible,” she groaned, waiting for his avatar to sit down. “I went to my new job today but there was this... _asshole_ who made everything harder for me,” she huffed and stomped angrily.

The noise of Luz stomping her foot on the cement floor of her house was loud enough for the man on the other side to be startled amidst whatever he was doing. A loud bang resounded on his side of the line.

“Star-Man, what was that?” It had sounded something metal and large had fallen.

“Nothing, nothing,” he laughed. His little avatar, walking to give her a plate of food, paused and struck a pose.

She laughed at his supposed puckered lips, “Yeah, right.”

“A guy can hope,” she heard him mock sigh on the line.

“Anyways,” he said as he ordered his avatar to sit down across from her, plates already served and fake steam radiating off of them. “Tell me more about what happened? You brought food right?”

“You mean I can’t eat the food you made?” She gasped playfully.

“Ayyy,” she heard him scold her equally as playful as her.

“I’ll go get food,” she said. “Give me a minute, I’ll be right back.”

Luz stood up with a smile on her face, carefully taking off the monocle and sound receivers and placing them on the chair. She vibrated in happiness as she rushed upstairs, his answering laugh still echoing inside her.

She stopped in front of her fridge and tapped on the door to see the list of her available foods. Most of the meals she could make would take too much time, time she could be spending with Star-Man. With quick taps on the screen, she called up leftover food to be heated. There was a quick ding and when the small door on the fridge lifted, revealing a piece of steak and cold salad, she reached for it and ran back down the stairs, slamming the doors behind her.

The heat of the ceramic plate scorched her fingers. “Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.”

She scrambled to put it down, settling to place it on her chair while she sat on the floor next to it.

Immediately after she put on her gear Star-Man started firing questions at her. “Are you okay? I heard a noise? Are you hurt?!”

She chuckled, “I’m fine, I just burnt fingers is all.”

A sigh could be heard over the line, “You should be more careful.”

“I know I just…” Luz swallowed, she wanted to admit it to him, but to do so this way, over a virtual program was making her embarrassed, “I just didn’t didn’t want to waste any time I could be spending with you.”

There was a sharp intake of breath over the line, then silence. She waited in bated breath, looking at the only thing that kept her distracted— the image in front of her.

His avatar sat stilly before disappearing and reappearing in the same spot.

She was just about to apologize for making him uncomfortable when he suddenly spoke in a tone of voice she wasn’t used to coming from him. “I know we don’t each other they way people do; and, I know we haven’t met. But, I think I love you.”

Luz smiled. A blush started creeping up her face with the words that started forming within her.

But even as she said them, there was one problem looming over their heads. A problem both of them knew and were too afraid to change: the promise that neither could know where the other lived or their actual names.

Despite this, Luz couldn’t help but look forward to the end of each day. The end of each day where he was the ending and how much she wished he would be the start of her day too.

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

A month later, as Luz was walking to the zone of Dust, she caught herself thinking about Star_Man. What could he be doing at that hour? Where could he possibly live? Perhaps it was in one of the richer sections of the Sparks— maybe he was an engineer just like her, one that worked with technology. To be found using a Monet would be an especially hard blow on him then.

The sun glared down at her as she walked up and down the dunes of red dirt and dust as she tried to reach the zone.

Every day for the past month, Luz had been leaving even earlier than she had left on the first day, in hopes that she could make it to her office before the clock hit 8. At first, it had only been to avoid being scolded by Mr. Choi and Dr. Hong, but after another disastrous interaction between her and Hoshi, arriving early had become her way of avoiding him.

Now, unlike before, Luz walked with short even steps. She hoped that this way, her boots would remain white the entire day. This way she wouldn’t be stopped and scolded again by the Dividend units...again.

She ignored all the workers of the Dusty when she reached the top of the dune that hid the zone. After that, she practically ran all the way down and didn’t stop until she reached the block of concrete where the technicians' office sat. 

She walked after that but didn’t take her time to take in her surroundings. So, Luz sped walked really, since there was no fixed time for Dr. Hong’s arrival, and she didn’t want him to think she was weird. When she reached the door and took off her shoes and clear coat protecting the rest of her ensemble, Luz let out a sigh of relief and rushed inside.

She met no one her way to her office and when she was finally inside, she couldn’t help but fall into her chair after slapping her hand on the Panet to wake it.

Her building’s map appeared at the center of the room in its blue, projection glory. Most of the rooms already had a red checkmark hovering over each door, a cruel reminder that she had already planned the tech arrangement for that room.

Before she could start designing the layout for the final room, a knock at her door interrupted her.She hesitated to open it, but when they knocked again and she heard Dr. Hong’s voice on the other side asking her to open the door, she stood up quickly and opened it.

“Dr. Hong, what can I do for you?” Luz asked nervously, giving him a thin smile.

“I came to check up on you,” he hummed. “May I?” He motioned if he could step inside.

“Of course,” Luz answered, stepping aside.

Even before stepping inside, his eyes were already locked onto the projection at the center of the room. But, after he stepped inside, he made his intentions clear as he approached the map’s projection and bent over to study the rooms.

“I see that over 99% of your building is already covered in red checkmarks,” he said, shooting her a quick glance before turning back to the map.

“Yes, sir. I only have one more tricky room to analyze.”

He hummed for a second then responded, “Mr. Choi is currently in the building you’ve been placed in charge of. He would like for you to start the set-up today. Save the last room for later and begin turning these checkmarks green, shall we?”

“Of course, sir,” Luz replied.

Dr. Hong wasted no time after, nodding to her to leave. Walking behind him, Luz closed the door and took a second to compose herself. There would be no more avoiding, Hoshi, King of the Dusty workers.

Oh, those checkmarks were cruel indeed.

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

“Now tell me, Miss. Alcantar, how do you plan to begin integrating the system.” Mr. Choi walked ahead of Luz and Hoshi, as they walked to the top floor of the building. After throwing a quick comment about the inconvenience of having to walk to the top rather than take the Levo upwards, he had pointed out the boxes full of the tech she was to install.

Now, as they walked all the way to the top, Luz carried two boxes in her hands. They were heavy and almost blocked her view completely, save for the bit that she could see if she tried to make herself taller.

“I believe it would be wise to begin with the top of the room first and work my way downward. This way the room could have a cascading visual accentuated by the lights of the tech when it is on.”

“Very well,” Mr. Choi replied. They reached the top floor and the only room there in a matter of seconds after this conversation.

Hoshi placed the ladder at the center of the room as she placed the boxes on the floor and waited beside Mr. Choi for instructions. Luz realized that around Mr. Choi and Dr. Hong, she had never really heard Hoshi say more than a few words— none in this instance.

Without waiting to be told that she could begin, Luz began unpacking the boxes and separating the materials as she wanted them. After selecting a nano camera kit, she pulled the ladder towards the back right corner and got to work.

It didn’t take much work to assemble to nano camera. But, as she reached towards the roof to place it in the corner that it belonged in, Luz realized she had climbed the wrong side of the ladder.

She could almost hear Hoshi’s snickers as she thought about making her way down to climb the other side. A large window had been placed against the same wall that she was facing, and when she felt a breeze of wind pass through it, she thought it better to climb down.

It was easy to climb down, all she had to do was turn around, then it wasn’t.

When a strong breeze came through the window and brushed past her, it shook the ladder. With no one holding onto the other side of the ladder, Luz struggled to keep her balance and before she knew it, she was falling backward into the window.

Above her own shout, she didn’t hear as Hoshi ran forward and stopped her from slipping completely out of the window. Half of her hung out of the window when Hoshi reached her. He grabbed her by her legs, keeping her from dropping twenty feet into nothing.

“Help,” he struggled to get out. Mr. Choi rushed over and together they pulled her back in. Unbalanced by the change in axis, she stumbled into Hoshi’s arms. He, in response, promptly and casually knocked her onto the floor.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Mr. Choi asked furiously.

“My apologizes, sir, it seems my team has not added the windows yet.”

Mr. Choi huffed, “Get it done. Until then, Miss Alcantar, return to your office and finish whatever work you have left. Return here on Monday.”

Luz and Hoshi watched as Mr. Choi began to walk away, the anger radiating off of him giving them both the creeps. But before he left, he turned around and addressed Hoshi a last time, “Add another coat of cement to the walls after she’s done with the wiring on Monday.”

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

Luz sighed as she entered her house and closed the door behind herself. She was tempted to slide down against her door but decided against it when she realized that it would leave a stain on the floor. A red stain.

There was no dusty red on her since she had met with the Dividen Units at the land divisions. They had been so smug about pointing out that she had an abundance of red dust and dirt on her because she had been spending time in the Dusty. They wouldn’t even listen to her when she tried to tell them that she worked for a Sparks company that had taken Dusty land _for_ Sparks! They merely handed her a wet wipe and asked her to clean her boots before stepping foot in Spark territory.

Anything Dusty was abhorred by the Sparks.

She didn’t understand why the dust and the dirt from the Dusty were so abhorred. It was only dust. The Sparks needed some dust— everything was made white, everything was white.

Now that she’d been near the Dusty, the people and the land, Luz couldn’t help but feel that her world needed a little bit of color. The cold blue color of the projections wasn’t satisfying enough. But the browns and reds of the Dusty called out to her.

As Luz ordered her food to be made on the refrigerator, she realized that the only colors that she could remember prior to working in Spark-Dusty territory were of which she ate… and on **< <Missed Connections>>**.

An involuntary shudder made its way down Luz’s spine as she made her way down her basements, knocking the doors closed with her hips. It would have been easier if she had them on automatic but something about that made her paranoid. What if someone was counting the number of times she disappeared into her basement….

No.

She shook off her rising paranoia as she snuck into her second basement. The Monet and monocle shone even in the darkness of the basement. They were practically inviting her to put them on. So, she rushed over to them and placed her food down so she could put them on.

Everything else was routine after that.

Food in lap? Check.

Monet on? Check.

Monocle and sound receivers?Check.

 **< <Missed Connections>>**? Loading.

Star-Man wasted no time to log on that day it seemed, as he was already there, waiting for her in the kitchen when she logged on.

“Darling, you’re home,” he said. She couldn't help but let out a giggle when his little avatar jumped up and down in joy.

“I’m home.” Luz sighed, “Meet me on the couch?”

“Sure thing, let me just bring our food.”

“How was work today?” Luz asked, as he (his avatar) approached the couch and set down their virtual food. He sat down next to her then and grabbed a plate to signal her the okay to start eating.

“Boring,” he said, voice muffled a tiny bit, by food Luz imagined. “There are some newbies and they keep getting me in trouble with the higher-ups—”

They were strangely domestic with each other. It was something that Luz couldn’t help but notice every time she went online to spend time with him, even more when they were having a shitty day. Every time Luz looked at their tiny avatars eating together, smiling at each other, looking at each other in their virtual eyes... she wanted so badly to tell him where he could find her. Screw the promise.

“ZZ-Gears?”

“Yeah?” Luz answered, coming out of her daydream.

“You left our world didn’t you?”

“Sorry,” she said bashfully.

He laughed, “That’s all right. Tell me about your day now.”

She paused for a second, trying to think of what to say. “I feel like I want to quit my job.”

“What? Why?”

“I almost died today at work today.”

“What?!” He screamed.

“I’m alright, I promise. I just— it feels like too much. I swear my partner hates me and I don’t even ask him to do much even though I’m supposed to," her final words came out in a whine she only somewhat hoped he didn’t pay much attention to.

There was silence between them for a couple of seconds before he spoke again, “You know, you can always come online and send me a request to come online...then you could rant to me or tell me if something is going wrong. You don’t have to keep it to yourself...or wait so long to tell me.”

Gosh, how much he made her want to hug him. He made her want to know what it would be like to be held in his arms. What would it be like to have him care for her and make her melt in person? “It’s not like I can just take this out in broad daylight, can I?”

He laughed, “No, no you can’t. But we haven’t been doing that anyway, have we? You could always just find a really secluded place or a place like wherever you are now.”

“A basement then,” she chuckled and made her avatar latch itself to his.

“A basement,” he agreed. “Oh, I have to go now.” He made sounds of crying over the line, “I forgot I have a meeting to attend. But, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, darling.” His avatar cried then kissed her forehead.

In and out of **< <Missed Connections>>** they were sickeningly sweet. Would they be this way if they knew each other? She wasn’t sure, but she sure hoped so.

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

Monday mornings were unlike all other workdays on the worksite. They were bland and sluggish, and truth be told on Monday’s everyone acted like no one around them existed. It was as if they were all ghosts, sliding past each other and never coming into contact.

Everything was silent, save for the occasional sounds of equipment being used.

It’s possible that this could be the reason why no one noticed when Luz walked into her assigned building, carrying an old Dusty ladder in one hand and struggling to keep a box of tech in the other.

No one paid her any attention nor spared her a single glance. At that moment, it was as if Luz was the only ghost around, gliding past them in a breeze even though she was struggling. Or, it could have just been that they paid her no attention since she was from the Sparks.

Sparks and Dusty didn’t get along after all.

It took her longer than the first time she came, to travel the building and reach her destination. She stopped on the floor below the one she was in before the weekend and entered the first room on her right.

Her footsteps crunched as she walked on the tarp-covered room. The noise made her smile, a welcome distraction to the silence around her. She almost skipped all over the room, headed to the same corner as the level above.

She had nudged the ladder with her foot and before setting it up, decided it would be best to grab the box she had brought. Then, heading for the corner again, stepped around the ladder and screamed just like she had screamed three days ago— she screamed for dear life.

With her sudden distraction, Luz failed to notice the tarp under her feet scrunching up, its center being the exact place she had placed the ladder on. So, as she lifted a foot to step over it, her world came crashing down.

She held onto the floor with one hand, struggling to hold on without anything concrete to hold. The existing floor, only a few support beams, was slippery and crumbling under her fingers.

“Help!” Luz screamed. A quick glance downward showed her there was no place to land except a couple of floors down where she saw both her ladder and her tech had smashed into pieces. It sent a shiver down her spine.

“Someone help!” Luz screamed again when she heard footsteps approaching rapidly. Trying to lift herself up was out of the question, she had twisted her wrist on the way down. The bruising had almost been instant, though blood had not been drawn.

Hoshi burst through the door, squinting down at her to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. When he realized he really was seeing her hanging on for dear life, he grunted, grabbed her arms and hoisted her up.

“Aren’t you smart enough to realize when something isn’t done?” He screamed, anger clearly etched onto his face.

“I’m sorry!” Luz squeaked, holding her hands to her chest. “I didn’t mean for this to happen! I didn’t even see that there was a—”

“What in Sparks is going on here?!” Dr. Hong came rushing in, a meek construction worker of the Dusty trailing behind him. He bounded up to Luz’s side and looked over the edge of the floor. The broken tech equipment was easy to see even though the pieces were tiny.

“My apologies, sir. Miss Alcantar entered the building without alerting anyone so we were unable to warn her of the unfinished flooring.”

Dr. Hong took a glance at Luz, noticing the hand she was clutching to her chest. Luz tensed under his strong gaze. 

“Miss Alcantar please go wait in your office while I have a talk with Mr. Choi concerning your… accident.”

“Yes, sir,” Luz mumbled, before brushing past them.

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

Luz paced back and forth in her office that was plunged in darkness. She was nervous. In the amount of time that she had been working at this site, she had managed to look and act like an abnormal employee.

She just knew that this meeting between her two superiors would probably be about firing her and finding a new replacement. Really, she could feel it.

She couldn’t blame them.

Dread was running through Luz’s veins, climbing up her every being and digging into her.

When a ‘whoosh’ could be heard traveling into the building from the front door, she stopped and listened. Footsteps, that even if she couldn’t really differentiate, she knew came from Dr. Hong and Mr. Choi, made her gulp and shove her hands into her pockets.

A thin but sturdy lump in her pocket startled her. In an instant, she was pulling out the Monet, the monocle and the earpieces by the long metal chain connecting them, and holding it up in the air.

Even under the white light of the room, the Monet sparkled and invited her to use it.

Luz froze suddenly when the footsteps reached her door. There was a low murmuring coming from their side and the longer it went on, the more she felt like she couldn’t breathe.

A simple door that could probably open at the hands of her superiors, separated her and an accusation of treason. Yet, despite being caught with a Monet in her hand, she couldn't find it in herself to put it away. It’s not like she wanted to be caught. But, the fear of being caught froze her and it seemed like nothing could get her to move.

It wasn’t until they started to walk away and she heard another door close that she pocketed the Monet.

She wanted to call Star-man and tell him about her worries, the asshole that her partner was, the way she'd almost died _again_. But she couldn't, she was at work, a public place where she could get caught at any second.

Unless...

Against her better judgment, Luz snuck out of her office, rushed to put on her shoes and ran all the way to the new building. She thanked her luck when she noticed that there was no one around to question why she was running towards a building she had almost no reason to be in.

But even as she ran, she was building an excuse to be given at a moment’s notice.

She crept along the wall, poking her head over the bottom of the front window to make sure there was no one around. When she saw there wasn’t anyone, she ran to the front door and slipped through.

From there on, she rushed down the stairs and into the basement where she believed she could use the Monet without being caught.

She hesitated for a second, wondering if it was really a good idea to contact Star-Man in a public place. But having already gone through the trouble of rushing down to the basement of a building under construction, she ignored her doubts and took the Monet and monocle out of her pants pocket.

There was no light in the basement, but muscle memory helped her press the right buttons after she felt around the grooves. Soon enough she was online and sending him an alert, an invitation, telling him she was there.

Her avatar paced around the living room of their home, unprompted by her. Eventually, it sat down on the couch and a bubble appeared over its head, noting her idleness in the world.

Then, in an instant, Star-Man appeared on the screen and she all but ran towards him— or at least, she made her avatar run.

“What’s going on? Are you okay? Wh--”

Luz sighed then giggled quietly, “I’m fine. I’m sorry. I just, I needed to hear your voice.”

“My voice?” He asked over the line, “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Luz sighed again, “It’s nothing bad, I promise. Work is just… stressful.”

“Tell me about it,” she heard him say. His little avatar waddled over to the couch and patted the spot beside him.

She groaned, “I’ve got an insufferable co-worker. I almost died again today and he had the gall to blame me for it! There was literally nothing stopping me from walking into that deathtrap.”

“Sounds like an asshole.”

She sighed, “Yeah. I think I might get fired too.”

“What? But that isn’t fair—” A loud, booming, clanging interrupted their conversation. “Hold on, I have to go check on my workers.”

“Alright,” Luz answered. A second later his avatar disappeared from the screen and she was left waiting for him to return, her projection keeping her from standing in a room plunged in darkness, alone.

At the same, Hoshi was walking through the halls of his assigned building, asking his workers if you had come through the halls again.

“No? Then what the hell was that noise I heard all the way from my office?” No one answered.

In reality, one of the workers had let a large box of tools fall through the same hole that Luz had fallen through. It had hit the many protruding support beams on the way down and sent an echo reverberating throughout the building. But nobody was about to tell _him_ that.

Hoshi huffed at the silence. But knowing very well that if it had been something important they would have wasted no time in telling him (or at least a scream would have given them away), he shook his head and started making his rounds making sure everything was as it should be.

From top to bottom, he strolled with his hands in his pockets, stroking the piece of technology he had hidden away in his pocket.

When he was about to head towards the front door, he noticed the basement door slightly ajar from the corner of his eyes. If he remembered correctly, he had told everyone to keep that door closed and not to venture there because the lights hadn’t been installed— and he knew he remembered correctly.

With a frown on his face, he started to make his way over, checking over his shoulder every other second to find out who he needed to reprimand. But when no one appeared, he sighed and crossed through, leaving the door open enough for some light to help him walk down the stairs.

The closer he got to the bottom of the stairs, the slower he walked. Bright lights seeping through the room and growing brighter the closer he got made the hairs on the back of his neck stand.

Then, on the last step, he froze. The room was in full view and before him was something he honestly believed he would never see.

Miss Alcantar was standing in front of a projection that manifested itself from a piece of equipment that was nearly nonexistent even for the Dusty. Hoshi had only seen that piece of equipment in old informational diagrams, save for the one he had in his own pocket at the moment-- a Monet, a monocle, and its earpieces.

His eyes traced over the figure of the chain connecting the monocle to the earpiece. Then his eyes flicked over to the projection itself. An all too familiar picture greeted his eyes.

Hoshi clutched the Monet in his hand, took it out, and let it hang out in the open from the chain.

“ZZ-Gears?” He gulped.

“Star-Man? Is everything all right? I don’t see your avatar.” She answered, reaching out towards the projection to move the picture.

Behind her, Hoshi was quickly wrapping his head around the situation.

“Behind you.” He whispered.

She tensed and ever so slowly began to turn around. Her eyes locked onto Hoshi first, widening at the prospect of being caught by someone who clearly had something against her. Then, she felt the air being knocked out of her when a glinting object forced her eyes down where she noticed he was holding a Monet.

Then it clicked.

He had said her username.

He had the same voice as Star-Man.

The Monet.

The noise.

Luz screamed.

Hoshi’s eyes widened as she started to scream. Before he could get a word in, she started running, brushing past him like the room was on fire.

“No, wait! Stop!” He screamed, turning on his heels and running to catch up to her. He reached out to grab her after pocketing the Monet.

A second before she reached the door, on the last step before the main ground, he pushed himself to reach out and pulled her towards him by the wrist. She screamed louder this time.

“My wrist!” Luz cried.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! But, please don’t leave,” he loosened his hold on her but didn’t let go.

“Let go of me,” Luz cried.

“No, please. We need to talk about this!”

“What in Sparks is that screaming?!” Dr. Hong’s voice drifted down into the basement.

Their faces paled at his voice and when footsteps started to sound louder and louder, she grabbed the knob of the door and closed it, plunging themselves in darkness.

“Be quiet,” Hoshi whispered. Though he couldn't see, she was rolling her eyes at his words.

“Who’s in there?” Dr. Hong asked. The door rattled as he pulled on it, trying to open it.

Luz gulped as Hoshi squeezed her hand and tried pulling her behind him. But, still wanting to get away from him, she ripped her hand out of his and stepped closer to the door. Before he could react, Luz opened and stepped through the door, closing it before Dr. Hong could look inside.

In a last-ditch effort, Hoshi rushed to get his hand out the door. So, even though the door looked closed, Hoshi had actually managed to stick a hand out and was slowly looking for her hand as she leaned on the door.

The pain he swallowed down.

“What in the world were you doing in there?” Dr. Hong asked sternly. “I thought I told you to go to your office.”

Hoshi found her hand and gave it a squeeze, not letting go after. Luz gulped and subconsciously squeezed his hand back, then made sure their hands were hidden behind her back.

“My apologies, sir. I was just trying to map the basement since I couldn’t find it on the map… in case I wasn’t fired,” she whispered the last.

Dr. Hong sighed, “You’re not fired. BUT—” he stopped to give her a pointed look, “I expect you to follow directions as you’re told.”

“Yes, sir,” Luz said, nodding.

“I’ll be making periodical check-ups to see how you’re doing. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir," she nodded again.

“Alright, please head back to your office. I’ve already ordered for someone to take the broken tech and put it in your office. Fix it. I’m sure you know how.”

“Of course, Dr. Hong,” she nodded quickly.

Luz waited for Doctor Hong to start walking before she let go of Hoshi’s hand and followed after him. She didn’t spare him a look back.

A couple of hours later, while she worked on repairing the broken tech, a knock came at her door that prompted her to take a break. She was about to stand-up and open the door when she heard Hoshi’s voice from the other side.

“Luz, please open up. We need to talk.”

She stayed silent and almost slumped down on her chair. No matter how many times he knocked and begged for her to open the door.

She was unaware if Dr. Hong was in his office or not, but she imagined that he wasn’t or Hoshi wouldn’t be knocking so much. She hoped that he would eventually believe that she was out too.

She ignored the pang in her heart when he stopped knocking and walked away.

Minutes later, the Monet in her pocket felt too heavy. It distracted her even though she wasn’t using it or looking at it.

Another pang hit her heart when she took it out and held it in the palm of her hands. She stared at it for a while, running a thumb over it, caressing it like it needed comforting. Then, as if it could tell that she was paying attention to it, it started to glow a rich, golden color. It was Hoshi trying to contact her.

Another pang ran through her heart as she looked at it. It was relentless— he was relentless. The color never faded. Really, Luz felt like the color was growing brighter and stronger. It wasn’t long until she closed her hand around it and shoved it back into her pocket.

Luz ignored it from then on.

When the end of the day came, Luz was sure that Hoshi would try to find her again. It didn’t take her long to decide to sneak out and avoid everyone on the way out. So, after putting away the newly fixed tech and turning off the lights, she ran out of her office as fast as she could.

She thanked her lucky stars when neither Dr. Hong nor Hoshi were around. She put on her boots the fastest she ever had and then, without a look back, started jogging down the path she usually took home.

When Luz spotted Hoshi rushing down the same path, towards her office, she rushed into one of the buildings near her and waited for him to pass. Then she ran out and continued on her way quicker than she ever had before.

On the rest of the way home, she didn’t encounter anyone else and soon enough she was coming upon the Dividen units at the division line. She was startled then.

Their presence alone was nothing new to her. They were always there, making sure that no Dusty tried to come into Spark territory.

But, on this day, they weren’t allowing anyone to cross through the arch doorway and into the Sparks. There was a line at the doorway and against the wall. They were being given baskets and everyone was taking out whatever they held in their pockets, then giving it to the units for them to look over before being patted down.

Luz panicked. The Monet in her pocket felt hot and heavy. She didn’t want to get caught owning something illegal.

Luckily, there was a stone slab nearby she thought she could hide behind for a moment. There, Luz thought of what she could do. She didn’t want to leave it behind, but she couldn't leave it in her pocket.

She dug the front of her shoe in the dirt… and then it hit her. Her shoes. She could hide the Monet and the receivers in her boots. They weren’t that big and her boot already looked big because of how she stuffed her pants in them.

She did so quickly and then stuffed her pants back into her boots like she always did. After, she walked out from behind the slab and joined the line. It felt awkward to walk with the Monet in her shoes. She could feel its edges and its bumps digging into her skin.

But, still, she acted like nothing was wrong. She merely stared ahead bored, looking like she was annoyed for being made to do this.

Eventually, she reached the front, where one Dividen unit officer took her basket and the other started to pat her down.

Luz tried not to gulp or tense under their eyes and hands, especially when they reached her boot. But, it seemed that they hadn’t felt anything, or at the very least, they assumed that it was her pant leg if they felt anything.

After putting back her things into her pocket, she nodded at the officers and stepped through.

She was about to let out a sigh of relief when a single Dividen unit officer stepped up to her.

“Stop right there,” the woman hollered out, her voice stern.

“Yes, ma’am?” Luz answered after freezing for a second.

The woman glared at her, a frown on her face, “Dusty-related items are not allowed in the Sparks.”

“I-I’m sorry?” She sputtered.

The officer handed her a wet rag and motioned at her boots, “You are not to step foot on Spark territory with Dusty dirt-covered shoes.”

“Right,” she responded nervously and took the rag from the officer. The woman stood off to the side while she cleaned her shoes, watching.

When she was done she gave the officer the rag back. “I’m sorry officer, but would it be a bother to ask why the line? There’s never been this type of security before.” 

The officer looked at her, momentarily confused. Then the look disappeared from her face and she stared at Luz blankly, “There are talks of Dusty revolutionaries and Spark traitors that have been discovered. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you?”

“No ma’am," she answered quickly, shaking her head just as quickly too. The officer nodded and motioned for her to keep walking.

Luz let out a sigh of relief when she saw her home getting closer. Walking with the Monet was growing more and more uncomfortable. After every step she took, she felt like it was growing heavier, and the paranoia within her kept growing. She really didn’t want to get caught.

Once she was in her own home, the first thing she did was scramble down into her basement and take her boots off. She shook the Monet and the other accessories out and quickly placed them on the chair where she usually sat using it.

It was dark for a minute before it started glowing again and she knew it was Hoshi. She knew it wasn’t the best idea to ignore him, but she also couldn’t bring herself to answer.

She sighed for the last time that day, looking at it before deciding it was time to eat upstairs.

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

The following day, Tuesday, Luz arrived at the site at the same time as she had all the other days. It was early and there weren’t that many workers around. So, her walk to her office was calm and peaceful.

There were almost no people around the path that she usually took that she managed to forget about Hoshi for the entire time she was walking. It wasn’t until she reached her office that she remembered the events of the previous day.

It had only been a minute after she walked into her office that Hoshi came striding in. Without knocking or letting her get a word in, he walked in and closed the door behind himself.

“We need to talk,” he said, striding up to her where she stood next to the Panet at the center of the room.

Slowly, he reached out to her, pulling her closer to him, giving her time to pull away.

“I’m sorry. I have no excuse for the way I’ve been treating you, I know. I’m sorry, I really am. You have to believe me.”

“Why should I?” She huffed, glaring at him. “You only regret everything because you know who I am now.”

“I’m sorry,” Hoshi said again, “I really am. But, you’re from the Sparks and there’s a certain way we all feel about people that come from there. It’s no real excuse, I know…” he trailed off, pulling her in for a hug. “But, I love you. I know I do.” He pulled away from her and with a hand, tilted her head up so she was looking into his eyes, “And I really don’t care that you’re from the Sparks.”

He was intoxicating. The way Hoshi was talking to her was unlike the way he talked to her before. He was pleading, Luz knew. But everything about him was softer, his voice, the look he was giving her as he talked. Even the way he was holding her was softer than the way he had held her before.

In those moments, both of them gravitated closer to each other, lips coming to a stop millimeters from each other. This was Star-Man. This was the man that she had been dreaming of for months, wondering what they looked like, what they were really like, what it would be like to be in their arms…

There was a different intention here.

“There are things you don’t know from our worlds. They don't excuse me but perhaps they could convince you to give me a second chance.So please, let me tell you—”

“Tell her what?” Dr. Hong said from the doorway.

As quick as lightning, the two of them separated, Luz pushing Hoshi away.

“N-Nothing!” Hoshi stammered.

“If that be the case, then please leave. I would like to have a word with _Miss_ Alcantar.”

“Yes, sir,” Hoshi nodded and started to leave. When Dr. Hong stepped past him, Hoshi stopped at the doorway and look back at her. When he saw she avoided his eyes, he frowned and walked away.

“Miss Alcantar how are the repairs coming along?”

“They’re coming along fine, Mr. Hong. A—”

“That’s great,” Dr. Hong clapped his hand, “As per Mr. Choi’s instructions, we’d like for you to finish repair today and resume installment tomorrow.”

She nodded, biting her tongue so that she wouldn’t tell him that she was already done with the repairs. She needed another day away from... _him_.

She managed to avoid him for the rest of the day.

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

The following day, Luz set off toward her building with Dr. Hong by her side. Hoshi was waiting for them at the front of the building and when they arrived, he hung back, following them a couple of steps behind.

Dr. Hong seemed to know exactly which room he wanted her to start with and without a word, motioned for her to get to work. He watched them, Luz and Hoshi, work together for an hour, silently and without instruction before leaving.

It hadn’t been more than a minute after he left that Hoshi came closer to you. He hadn’t been holding the ladder while Dr. Hong was there, but now, he was. He stood on the other side, holding it so she wouldn’t fall and when she looked down to grab something else, he was already looking at her, holding out the item.

Luz nodded at him as thanks but ignored him the rest of the time.

He didn't try to start a conversation though. It looked like he had given up.

On the day that followed, the same thing happened, though this time she actually almost fell off. With one wrong step, she was about to fall off when Hoshi stuck his arms out and pulled her back onto the ladder.

His face, centimeters from Luz’s, turned a rosy color as he tried to figure out what to say to her. Luz looked at him for a while too, her mind going blank. But nothing came out in the end and before he could figure out his words, she pulled away and went back to work.

The same happened each day for a week. When Luz was about to fall or mess up in any which way, as long as they were alone, he ran forward, reach forward, just to make sure he could be there before she fell. Sometimes, she would even reach her office at the start of the day and find food waiting for her.

That happened twice a day, morning and during their lunch break, when she started to avoid the cafeteria.

It was at the end of that long week, on Wednesday when she had been given an office day— a break if you will, that she decided that she needed to tell Hoshi to stop. It didn’t matter that her heart hurt just thinking about it, she decided that she needed to do it.

Luz had sent him a message via Panet to his office asking him to come to her office. Fear coursed through her veins the entire time. She made herself seem busy to distract herself from him.

When he reached her office, he came bounding in with a smile on his face. It was hope. Luz could tell.

“We need to talk,” she said, copying what he used to say to her.

Hoshi was about to answer when Dr. Hong came rushing in, a panicked look on his face.

“Good you’re both here,” he said quickly. “Both of you go tell the workers to go home. Everyone has to go home right _now,_ ” he said, stressing the final word.

“W-What’s going on?” Hoshi asked.

Dr. Hong gave him a pointed look, “You need to go. Sparks has ordered a mandatory inspection of our facilities.”

“What?” You asked, confused at the panic starting to show on their faces.

“Che—” Dr. Hong seemed to cut himself off when his eyes landed on her as if he suddenly remembered that she was in the room too, “Mr. Choi said that there’s no time. Everyone has to go right now.”

“What about you guys?” Hoshi asked. You watched on confused, it was obvious there was something that they weren’t telling you.

“We have something to take care of, but we’ll try to leave as soon as possible,” he paused for a second, glanced at Luz, and then turned back to Hoshi, “They have all the keys. Go tell your workers they need to leave. Mr. Choi has already gone to tell Miss. Lim and Mr. Jeon, so go,” he ordered.

“Yes, sir,” you answered, grabbing Hoshi by the arm and dragging him out with you. 

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

It was true that she was young, but age had nothing to do with experiences. Luz was thankful though, that one of the things she had never experienced was war.

She remembered seeing images and clips of one when she was at the basic education school when she was a child. She remembered the glint in her teachers' eyes when they taught it, even the far-away look that they would sometimes dissolve into.

She used to wonder why. What horrors had they faced? What made them look like that? She regretted it now, as she looked out her window and saw how the streets had been plunged into darkness.

Other people like her had lifted the covers of their windows and were looking outside with the same fear and confusion as in her. White hovercrafts hovered in the air like they had never seen before. Bright, white spotlights shone down from the front of them and into the communities around them.

They were everywhere.

She could tell they were since all of Sparks had been plunged into darkness. So, even from a distance, she could tell that hovercrafts were there too, shining lights into the richer communities.

Luz shuddered. Something just didn’t seem right. Something was wrong, something was happening. That much was obvious.

Without waiting for something else to happen, she pressed the button next to her window so that they would be covered with the standard sheet of protective metal. If she couldn’t see out, no one could see in.

Still, it felt like something sinister was about to happen and even though she had gotten home hours ago when the sun was still up, the feeling had yet to go away.

Wanting to get as far away as she could from whatever was going on outside, Luz made her way deep under the basement and into the second one. The chair and the Monet were the only things there, illuminated only slightly by the light of the first basement.

She wanted to touch it, turn it on, go on the nets. Something within her was even trying to convince her to go into **< <Missed Connections>>** but she didn’t really know if she should. Going there would probably mean running into Hoshi if he was waiting for her.

What were the chances that he had given up?

She shook her head. It was for the best if she forgot about Hoshi.

The doorbell rang above and pulled her out of her thoughts about Hoshi. Though she’d never admit it to herself, she thought about him a lot.

Luz ran upstairs, skipping some steps to get to the door faster and then pressed the button on the door that activated the security holo-projection. It shot an image of the person outside and sent her into a frozen state.

She panicked when she processed what she was seeing. She opened the door in a flash and pulled the man inside.

“Ho—”

“Look, I know you don’t trust me but I need you to believe me right now. We need to go.” She gaped at Hoshi as he talked. His Dusty look, dark leather shoes, black pants that were coming apart at the knees, a yellowing shirt and leather suspenders… it stood apart in her white apartment.

“Hoshi?” Luz asked, still not comprehending that he was really there.

“We have to go.” He tried again, “The government thinks you’re a revolutionary— a Spark traitor.” He grabbed her hands trying to pull her towards the door.

“What?” Luz asked incredulously, ripping her hands from him.

Hoshi sighed, “They know you’ve been using a Monet. They caught you on the site’s security cams.”

“They what?!” Luz screamed. “They’re going to kill me.”

“No, no. No, they’re not. I won’t let them,” Hoshi said as he stepped closer to her. “So please, please just come with me.”

She looked at him, studying his face and weighing the options inside her head.

“Please… just trust me.”

Luz took one more look at Hoshi and took off running down the basement.

“Luz, wait! Please, just trust me!” Hoshi screamed as he ran after her. He followed her a few steps behind, not apt enough with the layout of her home.

He stopped when she entered a dark room, another basement he guessed, and ran up to a lonesome chair. She held up the Monet for him to see before shoving it in her pocket.

“I just need to put on my boots before we go,” she said running past him again.

He followed her back upstairs to the front door.

“Alright, let’s go,” she said.

“Is there nothing you want to take?”

She paused to look around and then from the corner of her eyes looked at him, “Nothing here is worth that much to me.”

Hoshi nodded, “Alright.”

He wasted no time after she opened the door to grab her hand and pull her ahead. He seemed to have a flashlight on him that she hadn’t noticed before, and because he had slammed her house door shut after stepping out, they were plunged into a deep darkness.

At the edge of the street, hidden behind the shadows of a building that seemed to be under construction, Dr. Hong and Mr. Choi stood on top of two golden brown hoverboards with two bags slung over their shoulders.

“Dr. Hong? Mr. Choi?” Luz whispered, panicked.

“Don’t worry. they’re with us,” he said as he pulled her towards them.

“I mean they’re the real revolutionaries, two other Spark traitors that they’re looking for.”

“Dr. Hong. Mr. C-Choi,” she stammered as they locked eyes.

“No need for formalities,” Mr. Choi rushed out as he handed Hoshi two other boards. “Seungcheol and Joshua,” He said pointing at himself and then Joshua.

“We’ve got to hurry,” Joshua said, turning on a small headlamp.

“Alright,” Hoshi said as he connected the two hoverboards, “these boards are from the Dusty so I doubt you know how to use them. I’m going to need you to--”

“Trust you?” Luz interrupted him, “Alright.”

He nodded at Luz, surprised. “Hold onto me, so you don’t fall off,” he said. He climbed onto one with ease, balancing the board as it seemed to wobble when he stepped on. Then he held out his hand to her. Without a second thought, Luz grabbed his outstretched hand and let him wrap his arms around her. Then she wrapped her arms around his torso too, ready to cling to him for dear life.

“Ready?” Hoshi asked her.

“Ready.”

They were off. Seungcheol took the lead, maneuvering through the empty streets until they reached the utility district.

“What are we doing here?” Luz asked.

“All of Sparks is under lockdown. The only way we’re going to get out of here is if we go through the sewage pipes,” Joshua answered.

“There are some things about Sparks that are still old school, Luz,” Seungcheol said. “For example…” He trailed off as he stopped and got off his board. The others followed and so did she. “Manholes.”

The group scurried into the hole and once inside, Seungcheol moved the cover back over the hole and motioned for everyone to get back on their boards.

They rode for what seemed like hours inside, trying not to gag at the smell, dirty water under their boards, mice and other critters scattering around. Joshua and Seungcheol tried explaining to Luz every other hour, the reason they were revolutionaries. They just didn’t believe in the divisions that were being built around each other. It seemed to her that they were trying to convince her to join their cause. Every now and then, they would also try to get her to tell them why she was using a Monet. She didn’t tell them.

After a while, when her legs were starting to grow tired, she started to shift uncomfortably in Hoshi’s arms. It looked like he knew what she was feeling since he hugged her closer to himself and told her to close her eyes and relax, sleep if she could.

She did relax, but she couldn't sleep.

Eventually, when she opened her eyes and stared ahead, she saw a light at the end of the tunnel.

“How long?” Luz asked.

“Four hours,” Hoshi answered. “I’m sorry but we still have a few more to go.”

“Okay,” she whispered tiredly.

She tensed when she saw a couple of men standing at the end of the tunnel. “There are people,” she whispered to Hoshi.

“Our friends,” he said, giving her a squeeze.

“Took you guys long enough,” one of them huffed when they exited the tunnel onto flat, Dusty copper-red land. “And who’s this?” He asked when they came to a stop, eyeing her.

Luz squirmed under his stare.

“Shut up, Chan,” Hoshi said, moving to stand in front of her. “There’ll be time for introductions later. Did you bring the explosives or not?”

“I have them,” another one stepped up, “Woozi couldn’t come so he sent me.”

“Good, set them up,” Seungcheol said, taking one of the bags the man was holding.

It didn’t take them long to cover the entrance of the tunnel with ‘TNT’, she noticed. The letters were painted on with black paint.

“Alright, let's go,” Seungcheol huffed. He waited until everyone was on their boards and riding away to light the fuses.

They had only ridden for a few minutes before they heard the explosion, and Seungcheol, without looking back, just told them to ride faster.

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

“Where are we?” Luz asked three hours later when they reached a large, decaying, Spanish Adobe Villa. It was only one floor but the arches made it seem grand and classic with its tan color.

“HQ,” Hoshi answered, helping Luz down. “Woozi’s house,” he smiled at her, knowing that those words meant nothing to her. While Hoshi took apart the boards he had connected, the rest of the group had already headed inside.

“Common,” he said, holding out a hand to her. “It’s time for introductions.”

When they walked inside, they entered the living room, where the group and even more people were waiting. Never had Luz seen so much leather and brown colors.

They fell silent when they saw her.

“Everyone,” Hoshi started, his voice booming. “I’d like for you to all meet, Luz Alcantar. I got her run out of Sparks so she’ll be staying with us from now on.”

Silence. Then a scoff from some other girl in the back.

She walked away and Luz tensed. “I’ll go check on her,” Another person said, running after her.

“I guess I’ll introduce you to them later,” he sighed and turned to a man who was leaning against a column.

“Luz this is Woozi.”

“Hello,” Luz said, nodding at him. He nodded back at her, face blank. She bit her lips nervously as Hoshi turned her towards someone else.

“And this is Chan,” he pointed at the man she had met earlier, the one with a square face and an impish smile. He winked at her and laughed when she turned red.

“Seokmin,” he pointed out next, the tall, smiley one that brought the explosives, “but we call him DK. There are a few others but I think they’re away right now.”

Luz nodded at him, not sure of what to say. He smiled at her when she turned red again, then turned to the others.

“We’re gonna go to sleep now.” Then before they could answer, he took her away.

“ **< <Missed Connections>>** girl?” Woozi asked.

Joshua nodded.

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

“I’ll sleep on the floor,” Hoshi said as he threw a blanket on the floor.

Luz nodded from his bed, toying with the hem of the shirt he had given her to change into. “Okay.”

Half an hour after he had turned off the light to the small room, and under his covers, Luz couldn’t sleep. Everything felt too new and weird for her. The color of the walls, the way the bed felt.

It was a change in everything she had learned to live with. Even the air felt different.

“Hoshi?” Luz said into the darkness.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. For coming to save me, I mean.”

There was a beat of silence before he answered, “I’ll never let them touch you.”

There was silence again between them. But, the longer it grew the harder it was for her to keep away from him.

“Hoshi?”

“Yeah?”

“Could you sleep… up here with me?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she answered and moved over when he stood up. He got under the covers, slowly, waiting for her to change her mind. When she didn’t, he pulled the blanket over them and settled down. Then he heard sniffles.

He reached out and pulled her into his chest, softly rubbing circles into her back. “It’s okay. You’re okay. You’ll be okay.”

* * *

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

* * *

**\- A Month Later -**

“Soonyoung!” Luz screamed as she came walking into the garage where the others had told her he was.

“Yes?” He answered, sliding out from under a zeppelin he was working on. He wiped the sweat off his face as he came face to face with her.

“Do you need any help?” She smiled at him. When he didn’t answer, her smile disappeared. “Soonyoung?”

“Hmm?” He answered, coming to. “Sorry, I just can’t get used to you in those clothes.”

“Do I look bad?” She asked, looking down at her outfit.

Hoshi smirked as he ran his eyes over her again, taking in her knee-high, brown leather boots, the blank pants that she had on, the white long sleeve shirt that she had under a corset, and the pair of bronze welding goggles that she had atop her head.

“No, not at all,” he smirked as he sat up straighter.

Luz smiled and took a seat on his lap. She tried wiping the oil he had smudged on his face, “Is that so?” She giggled.

Hoshi licked his lips, smirking, before he answered, “Extremely.”

Luz smiled and quickly leaned in to peck his lips. There was no time for him to respond as she pulled away right after.

She laughed at his pout. When she looked down at the outfit he was wearing she started to toy with the suspenders. It was the same outfit he had been wearing when he rescued her.

“Thank you for saving me,” Luz started, running a hand down the suspenders, “and for giving me a home.”

“I’d save you all the times you needed, darling,” he said, pecking her forehead.

Luz smiled softly at him, and when she wrapped her hands around the back of his neck, she pulled him into a kiss. His own hands wrapped around her waist as they fought for dominance. She sighed into the kiss as he tugged at her lips.

“Love birds, get back to work. You can do that later, preferably at night, when we’re all asleep and nowhere near you.” They broke away panting, faces flushed. Woozi rolled his eyes from the entrance and set down the box of materials he had brought them and shoved it towards them, refusing to get any closer.

When he left, they broke into a fit of giggles, and after grabbing the box of equipment, both of them went under the Zeppelin and got to work on repairs. 

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and Comments are always appreciated~~


End file.
